Process for feeding molten glass for making glass insulators or similar articles.



PATBNTED JUNE 2,1908.

H. M. BROOKPIELD. I PROCESS FOR FEEDING MOLTEBT GLASS FOR MAKING GLASSIN$ULATORS MILAR ARTICLES.

APPLICATION mm) mm: 13, 1906.

OR Si FILWENTOR 4/ BY v 450, L CQ/A/I/L/ W AIM ia/[mESSiS: Q QWA P W 4M& e

ATTORNEYE.

' lIlSUliIhUlS or shown by the arrow;

"a" irm t) till l'lliXliYjl, BROQ Kl llilil), OF NE YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION PRCCESS FOR FEEDllVG MOLTEN GLASS Application filed June 13,1

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, HENRY M. BROOK- i FIELD,a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in thecounty of New York and State of New York, have invented 1 a certain newand useful Improvement in Processes for Feeding Molten Glass for MakingGlass insulators or Similar Articles, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to in-iproved proccsses'for automatically feedingmolten glass from a glass furnace for the manufacture of glassinsulators and other similar small glass articles.

It has for its object to provide a process for automatically feedingmolten glass in such a relatively small stream as to be adapted for theautomatic manufacture of glass i other similar small glass articles, andto do this without the clogging or freezing oi the glass.

It consists of the novel process herein shown and described.

In tlv drawings accompanying this speci lication and forming parthereof, I have shown parts of a glass furnace adapted for use incarrying out my improved process. It will be understood of course, thatany other suitable apparatus may be employed for this purpose. Thatshown in the drawings is, however, well adapted for carrying out myimproved process.

I will now proceed to describe my im-\ proved process as it is used inconnection with the specific apparatus shown in the drawings. I

Referring to these drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section througha part of a glass furnace adapted for carrying out my iin provedprocess; Fi 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line AA of Fig. 1,viewed as Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross-section on the line BB of Fig. l.

Heretofore in the practical art of handling molten glass for themanufacture of glass insulators or other similar small glass articles,it has been the practice to take the molten glass out of'the furnace byhand. Attempts have been made in such manufacture to cause molten glassto flow through openings in the side of the furnace, but, as far as I amaware, such efforts, have failed. The chief difficulty, lies in the factthat in such cases the glass must flow out through the opening I l l. l

FOR IvZAKZNG GLAS ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent the tollow out ASSIGIIOR TO BROOKFIELDGLASS CQMPAI OF NEW YORK.

ENSULATGRES 0E Patented June :2, 906. Serial No. 321. d

and usually over and must. flow in a .t tit elf; small s be adapted forthe manufacture oi ra s sulators. At the usual temperature; eniployedwith me for use i n the H1 iniacture of glass insulat it is di of etwould be required to small stream required, an. stream chills quickly ait is to 1 of the opening and over the said suri i have discovered that,it the opei'iinggdischarge of theglass from the furnace made relativelyi e at'the beginn' laces more or Vii flow of molten glass will bestarted, and after a flow has cured, that the opening can then to theproper size for giving the es stream required. l have found, cases, thatit is prar allyiinthe flow of a stream of glass where ing is of just theright size to r in a proper stream for use in the aeture ofglassinsulators, but where the .ening is made considerably larger than su' asize at the beginning, the ilow of is readily started, and this flow canthereafter be successfully maintained, although the size of theopeningand the size of the flow are reduced to theijoroportions desired.The flow, having once been started, is maintained not withstanding suchreduction in size.

I will now proceed to describe the apparatus shown in the drawings, andexplain my improved process in connection therewith.

1 represents a glass furnace and 2 the molten glass therein. Thisfurnace is provided at one side with a heating chamber 3, a channel 4connecting the interior oi the furnace with the chamber and providing ameans for the flow-oi the molten rem the former to the latter. Thechannel a is preferably located at some distance below the normal levelof the molten glass in the furnace in order that the molten glass drawnoil may. be drawn from a point at some distance below the surface toavoid taking the impurities which generally float upon the it ip of themolten "lass. It is also preferably located at a su cientdistance abovethe bots tom of the furnace to nsure that the molten glass shall besufiiciently liquid to flow prop erly. In practice, I prefer. to arrangeit about as shown in the drawing.

g gate.

cally reci rocating and is controlled through a screw-t n'eaded rod 6-provided with a handwheel 7 and passing through a support 8 interiorlyscrew-threaded and connected at its upper end through rounded head 9 toa link 10 ivoted at its upper end to a lever 1 t v which is pivoted atits other end, valve-gate 5, as shown in Fig. 1. The rounded head 9 ofrod 6 is seated in a similar shaped cavity in 5 the lower art of link10, and is free to turn therein. y turning hand-wheel 7 in one directionor the other, valve-gate 5 can be delicately and accurately adjusted tovary the size bf o ening 4 and to control the flow of as -molten Cr assfrom the furnace or to shut it off altogether.

12 is a discharge orifice leading from chamber 3 for discharging themolten lass. in

' its flow through channel 4 to an through 5 orifice 12, the moltenglass necessarily asses over a considerable extent of brick, an no meansfor heating or kee ing this length of brick heated were em oyed, themolten glass would congeal an clog channel 4 and 3e utterly prevent thedischarge of molten glass from the furnace. To avoid this, I. use meansfor keeping such surfaces heated over 'which the glass must pass in itsflow, and sufjficiently so to maintain the fluidity of the glass. Anysuitable means may be employed for this purpose. I refer to use for thispurpose, a'heating cham er 3 which will sufficiently cover and protectthe parts over which the glass-must flow, sufficiently heat- 40 ing themto prevent their congealing the molten glass.- This chamber may assumeany suitable form. In the draw1ng,-1t-is shown as an inclosed box orrectangular apartment, although it is not absolutely necessary that itbe inclosed on all sides, as long this chamber.

nace from the interior into chamber 3.

as it affords sufficient means for protecting the surfaces in questionfrom becoming chilled or for keeping them sufficiently heated. I preferto employ means for-heating Any suitable means may be employed for thatpurpose. As shown, 1

heat it directly from .the interior of furnace 1 by means of openings18, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which pass through the wall of the gun t isnot necessary, however, to heat this chamber from the furnace, as itmay, for example, be heated inde endently, as by oil jets placedtherein, or by any other suitable heating Aschamber 3 is kept very hot,and as the heat rapidly affects and destroys a valvegate, such as 5, 1preferably place a guard 13 in front of the valve-gate 5 so*-that nopart of 65. the valve-gate is exposed, except the extreme In the formshown, it is made vertilower edge. This guard 13 may be made of anysuitable material. As shown,, it has sides 19 which overlap and coverthe edges of gate 5, as shown in Fig. 3.

As it is necessary at times to remove valve gate 5 for purposes ofrepair or for replacing it with another valve-gate, 1 preferably pro.-

flow of glass from the furnace while toe valve-,

gate is out of operative position. For this 'u'rpose, I provide astopper 14 which, in the form shown, consists of a rod screw-threaded'at 15 and passing through a sup ort l6 l0- cated in the walls ofchamber 3 an interiorly screw-threaded and also provided with ahand-wheel 17 The inner end of stopper 1% is made of such shape as toenter an fit e);- actly the (":ter' end of channel i, and when 17 isturned in one direction this stopper 1% will fill channel at its outerend and effectually prevent any further flow of molten glass. Stopper 14may itself be used as a valve, if desired. 4

The hand wheel 7 and the parts connecting it with the valvegate 5,enable that gate to be moved up or down to vary the size of the o eningi, and thus to regulate the amount of flow tl'XQ-IG'GlHOU lL In practicegate 5 is raised to permit a f ow through opening 4 for its wholeextent. After this flow has been started, hand wheel 7 is turned soas toreduce the size of the opening land conseqpently the amount of flow tojust the exact .joportion of stream best suited for the manufactors ofglass insulators. The flow in this reduced volume will, however, bemaintained. Valve gate 5 and its hand Wheel 7 and connecting parts,enable the size of opening and the amount of flow of molten glass, to bere ulated in accordance with the condi ti'ons of huidity and temperatureof the molten glass.

By means of my improved process, it is made possible to a1 tomaticallyfeed molten glass from a furnacl; for use in the manufacture of glassinsulators and other similar small glass articles.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The process of feeding "molten glass from a furnace for themanufacture of glass insulators or other similar small glass articles,which consists in first causing the molten lass to flow from the furnacein a relatively arge stream, sufficiently large to prevent the cloggingof such streanr as it starts to flow over the relatively cool surfacesof the outlet from the furnace, heating such surfaces by means of theflow of such relatively large stream, and thereafter reducing the amountof such flow to suitable proportions for the manufacture of sucharticles.

2. The process of feeding molten glass from a furnace for themanufacture of glass insulators or other similar small glass'artividemeans for temporarily stopping the lOt cles, which consists infirstnausing the molten to enable a proper flow to be maintained forplass to flow from the furnace in a relatively the manufacture of sucharticles.

arge stream, sufficiently large to prevent the In testimony whereof, Ihave signed my clogging of such stream as it starts to flow name to thisspecification, in the presence of 5 over the relatively plool surface?1of tlEe outloet two subscribing Witnesses.

from t 1e "urnace, eatin suc sur aces T i Y ,means of the flow of sullhrelatively large HELRY BRGOREIELD' stream, and thereafter regulating theamount Witnesses:

of such flow in accordance with the condi- BERTRAM M. DOWNS,

10 tions of fluidity and temperature of the glass 1 EDWIN SEGER;

